Val's recording
Reading time: 18:37 Val takes a moment to set up the recorder and open a copy of __Divine Control__. After a moment the recording starts, she looks at the camera with an almost eerie lack of emotion in her face. "what I have to say is not an easy thing for me to say but I ask you to hear me out my friends. I also caution you this is not for young children's ears, not even my own Randy." there is a full minute's pause and Val is visibly holding back tears before the emotionless face returns. "we first meet all those years ago in Japan, we have come along way and gotten to know each other well. but there is one of us that never told our story, I have always kept my past an enigma from you. it is a secret you have always respected and I had my reasons for doing it for all this time but all secrets must come to light eventually. it is not a lack of trust. I trust all of you with my life, I simply did not want to recall this myself." Val sheds a few tears and pauses for several minutes to recover her strength before the emotionless face returns. "I do not know how many of you have read __Divine Control__, it is not a light read and is sadly very true. I wish to read a bit from it for you, please bare with me as I do" she lifts the book. "Project Divine Control was the Cradle's attempt to create powers artificially" she looks down at the page. Looking up she speaks "the 2 children I list were far from the only victims but why I chose them will soon be clear." Looking back she reads the excerpt from the lab note, her tone is devoid of emotion as she speaks. "Subject: DC558, alias Angela Staley Subject History: born to the wife of a Brotherhood spy, the infant was taken for study and the parents executed. Subject: DC665, alias Scot Subject History: a child was selected at random from the non powered population for testing." After a moment to gather herself and wipe a tear away she looks up "we know nothing more of were these 2 came from. From the lab records we know much of where they ended up, each was dissected and poisoned. They were treated like rats in a cage, and to the handlers that is just what they were. Scot was subjected to so much combat testing he didn’t have a bone that didn’t break at least once. That is how he died, beaten to a pulp by a brainwashed child no older than 3, we can only imagine the torment of that last fight. Angela, she was taken apart and put back together so many times she didn’t work right anymore. She had her uterus removed just because they wanted to look at it, when they put it back in infection nearly took her life. The organ was removed but infection had set in, she somehow survived despite minimal treatment. I know this is all very strange and upsetting to hear but please hear me out, I tell you about her for a reason. Angela and Scot were put in the same room for a time before his tormented death and formed a bond like siblings. But he was brutally killed just for a test and she was likewise violated as the rat they saw her as." Val pauses for a full 3 and a half minutes before regain her composure "years later a group of the people held in the lab attempted an escape when a strike force raided the lab. Angela managed to escape, to read this that is where her story ends, somewhere outside of a lab running for her life. But where is she now? what would she be like if she were still alive, would she have ever found happiness? Well there someone that knows where she is, and that someone is me. Angela escaped the lab and lived on the streets. After a while she found someone that gave her scraps to live on and later a group of friends. She fell in love and was married years later, she now lives a happy life even has 2 kids." For the first time in the recording Val smiles for a moment and wipe away a tear. "but that isn't the full story, this book is wrong about her on one point and that is what I want to say to you. that girl that escaped the lab, her name isn't Angela Staley" Val stops to gather herself. After about 2 minutes she tries to speak but can't, it takes another 3 minutes before she continues. "that girl is someone we all know, her name is Valkyrie Aki Kim" at that Val breaks into tears. the recorder is still running, she is to overrun with emotions to even think to turn it off.